Embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein are generally directed to control systems and methods for optionally piloted aircraft.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have rapidly matured in recent years from the relatively simple remote controlled airplanes of the past to sophisticated aircraft that are capable of performing important civilian and military operations and missions. Applications in the past have primarily been directed toward either small platforms for civilian aerial surveying, area surveillance, crop monitoring, search and rescue operations, border monitoring, and the like, or larger military platforms for missions that might place a pilot in danger from opposing forces.
Most UAVs in use today are remotely controlled by a human pilot using a communication link of some type. The role of the communication link may vary depending on the capabilities of the control systems on board the UAV. Simple, basic UAVs such as inexpensive hobby class devices may have very limited on-board control systems, and may depend completely on external control commands and operation by the remotely located human operator to take off, complete the flight mission, and land. A larger and more sophisticated class of UAVs generally characterized as unpiloted aircraft may be equipped with highly capable flight control, autopilot and navigation systems that might enable the unpiloted aircraft to perform one or more predetermined mission operations including takeoff, flight between waypoints, and landing without external control commands from a remotely located human pilot. In situations where communication between the unpiloted aircraft and the remotely located human pilot is lost, the on-board system may take over to maintain the unpiloted aircraft in flight and may possibly continue and complete one or more predetermined portions of the mission.
There is growing interest in a new class of even larger and more capable optionally piloted aircraft that may potentially transport cargo or passengers. This interest is prompted by the economics and business climate for operation of large aircraft, where the salaries and availability of human pilots represent a significant portion of the total cost of operation. At the same time, it is clearly understood that the presence of a human pilot in the flight deck of an aircraft is the traditional expectation for safe operation of the aircraft, especially in rare but sufficiently probable events such as equipment failure or hazardous flying conditions. Autonomous control systems are steadily gaining in capability, but are still much less able to appropriately respond to unexpected situations than a competent, well-trained human pilot.